Quick Reaction: 11x19 The Chitters
Hello! Early review tonight, because my friends went to an advanced screening of Keanu, so I broke into their house and watched the show at 7pm on Space. Woot!
That also means that I haven't been drinking - because I totally forget to indulge in my friends' wine supply when they are not there for company. I am primarily a social drinker, it seems. But don't think that will make my memory any better!! I've still only seen the episode once!
Onto the episode...
We begin in 1989 in Gunnison, CO, where two little gay boys are planning their escape to California. Awww... they are named Jesse and Matty, and I didn't realize they were brothers, though I did wonder how they became friends when there was such a large age gap. They've both got potential sweethearts (or a potential sweetheart and an actual sweetheart - (ETA: Ah, someone clarified on tumblr that the older brother was teasing his younger brother about always talking about his sweetheart - and that the older brother was probably not gay, but super accepting and just teasing. But Matty is super concerned that Jesse is going to get gaybashed if he goes around kissing boys.) It's all very heartbreaking. Then it's even more heartbreaking, because Matty get killed by weird thing in the woods.
Now back to the present with Sam and Dean. Dean hasn't been sleeping, because he's been reading lore all night... and also got confused about whether sleeping or sitting was the new smoking (...note to self, use standing desk more.) It's sweet that Dean's super concerned about Cas, but I gotta wonder why Sam doesn't appear to be - I mean, I know Sam's the optimist of the two (90% of the time, anyway), but still.
In anycase, Dean is super worried about Amara killing Cas. Sam is there to distract him with a case - which is probably for the best, I suppose. Better for Dean to feel like he's not completely useless in the world.
In Colorado, they meet a SUPER ATTRACTIVE SHERIFF (that is what my notes say - and they are correct). I would like to marry her, based solely on looks, of course, but I'm sure she is also a nice person.
My future wife tells Sam and Dean that there have been 6 people missing in 48 hours, and their only witness was high and unreliable. Dean makes a joke about the teenagers taking a "Tripping Trip", oh Dean. The Sheriff then admits that the same thing happened 27 years previously, when "a half a dozen" people also went missing (look at you, and you're fancy way of saying ALSO 6 PEOPLE.)
The sheriff just tells herself that it's people fleeing the boring-ass small town... every 27 years like clockwork... because she obviously does not want to think outside the box.
Dean interviews the witness - Corrie - who I thought was named Claudia - but, apparently not? Anyway, Corrie tells Dean about how the guy who attacked them was a weird green mutant without any genitalia.
Dean then goes and fills Sam in, teasing him about how Sam apparently smoked weed once when he was 18 and in college - calling him a sinner and a rebel. It's cute. Mainly, because if that's the only time Sam smoked weed, then that's amazing. But then, I grew up in Canada, maybe in the US it's different, but here, if basically just like underage drinking - everyone does it and no one cares as long as you don't drive.
They find a witness from 27 years ago is still alive - and I thought, he maybe it's Jesse! But nope, it's a woman named Ada, whose husband went missing, apparently after sleeping with two women in public. She's also being suspicious and burning white sage - and is super impressed when Sam names it by smell. Apparently, her grandmother told her that the Spring Equinox, once a generation, makes people super horny and they have orgys in the woods - and she called it The Chitters after the sound the "orgy" made. Sure.... Anyway, Ada makes Sam uncomfortable with her attention, as Sam often is made uncomfortable by sexual attention. Dean, as usual, finds it amusing.
They leave and decide to research. I have to say, I love the way Nancy Won (this is her second episode, I believe?) weaves in unnecessary, but realistic, dialogue every now and then... like here, with Sam saying they should "pick up a six pack" and Dean saying, "just six?" and Sam is like "you know what I meant!"
Oh! It's also here that we find out that the Spring Equinox was YESTERDAY - which means that yesterday was March 20th. Which, for my timelining purposes, actually means that I can timeline FIVE episodes - because it means that ever episode between Love Hurts and this one has to take place between February 19th and March 19th. And since I keep track of the number of days in each episode, and the number of days BETWEEN episodes (when mentioned) that means I can, in fact give approx. dates to five whole episodes. Do you know what that means?! Sam was shot in the stomach 10 DAYS AGO. Geez, Sam, maybe... maybe take it easy? But then, maybe he is... because he does let Dean go into the more dangerous situations in this episode... still though, maybe take it easy IN A BED (.....with me.)
Meanwhile, in another part of town, a teenager/20-something couple is taking a short-cut through the skate park up under the bridge off Pender... and the guy is a CUTIE! ...and they see people having sex... and then the cutie gets killed. :(
So, Sam and Dean interview that witness. The sheriff is not impressed by shenanigans, and walks out of my life... awww.
Then Dean gets a call from Cory about seeing her friend again, so he goes to investigate - and gets attacked! But no worries, another Hunter rescues him! And there are two of them, and one of them is Jesse!! Yay! Jesse!
Jesse and Cesar are Mexican Hunters...or maybe better put - Hunters from Mexico (they do not hunt Mexicans, that would be horrible.) They sometimes come as far noth as Texas, but mostly just stay in Mexico. Fun!
(If I'm not spelling Cesar right, please forgive me, Canada is a long way from Mexico and I am unfamiliar with their names/the spanish language)
Also, Cesar had heard of the Winchesters, but thought they were dead! - I love hearing what other hunters know about the Winchesters.
Cesar and Jesse know all about the monster of course. They're Cicada based and probably came over from Malaysia somehow. They lay eggs underground, which hatch every 27 years, come top-side, possess/kill people for a few days to copulate, and then they go back underground again.
Jesse tells Sam and Dean about his dead brother... and it's sad.
Then Dean teases Cesar and Jesse that they fight like brothers, and they're almost as bad as Sam and him. Then Cesar is like, "uh, more like an old married couple" and Dean laughs and agrees, and then gets it and is like, OHhhhhhh... and I'm happy because Jesse found love...awww...
Dean asks Cesar what it's like to settle down with hunter, and he's like "it's dity and smelly and you're constantly worried about each other getting killed" and uh...yeah, that about sounds like Sam and Dean too, so I think Dean already knew what it was like to settle down with a hunter.
This is the second time this season that Sam and Dean have mentioned/considered the idea of settling down with another hunter. I wonder why that is...I wonder if it's leading somewhere.... it'd be cool if it were.
Anyway, Jesse wants them to back off the hunt, because it's HIS. And Dean's like "that's cool, no probs." And then Cesar is like "We could use the help!" and Jesse is all like "I hate this town! They're abunch of intolerant assholes." And fair enough... but Cesar thinks that Sam and Dean following leads in town is a good idea, because Cesar and Jesse haven't made much progress only searching the woods.
They decide they'll split up. Dean and Cesar will continue looking in the woods, and Sam and Jesse will go to visit the Sheriff from 27 years ago and see if he knew anything, because his notes were crazy suspicious. I'm not sure why they split up that way, but oh well.
Dean and Cesar have a chat in the car. Cesar talks about how it's hard to watch someone go through what Jesse is going through - his revenge path - Dean agrees. Cesar talks about how when someone loses someone when they're young, they never heal from it. Dean also agrees - because, damn, does he ever have person experience on the matter. Cesar asks Dean how many hunters he knows that actualy got revenge. Dean admits that there's been a few... himself, for one, though he doesn't say that. But then Cesar talks about how even when they get revenge, that part of them that is hurt from the loss still isn't fixed. But Dean says that regardless of that, you have to support the person - you have to help them get their revenge. Cesar agrees.
Meanwhile, in my notes, I have written "Nothing better happen to this gay couple!"
Sam and Jesse chat in Jesse's truck on their way to visit the Sheriff. Apparently, when Jesse tried to tell the truth about what happened, everyone thought that some pervert had dragged Matty away - and they blamed Jesse somehow for not being able to rescue his older brother?! Or not being able to give a good description of the guy and making up stories... and they weren't accepting of him anyway, and it all made everything worse. Poor Jesse. He needs all the cuddles. ALL OF THEM.
Cesar and Dean split up in the woods - NEVER SPLIT UP... and Cesar gets attacked, but he's OKAY! Dean chases off the monster - Cesar's leg is hurt... and in my notes I have written "BUT IS HE OK!?!"
Meanwhile, Sam and Jesse confront the old Sheriff, who is shifty AF.
Dean finds the burrow where the eggs are, and he and Cesar head over there, with Cesar limping, but insisting he's fine.
Jesse yells at the Sheriff, Sam refuses to let him brush them off... then the Sheriff finally admits that he tracked down one of the monsters and found his daughter in the burrow - he had thought she had went back to school. He ended up having to kill his own daughter when she attacked him, and it scarred him for life and made him move to the middle of nowhere and never speak to anyone again. Jesse is now SUPER PISSED, because the Sheriff told him he was ridiculous when he KNEW and also the Sheriff not telling anyone led to so many other people getting killed. Sam very politely tries to calm Jesse down, while simultaneously getting the location of the burrow from the Sheriff.
So, both parties found the burrow, using both techniques - so no one hunting technique was technically wrong - though the technique of just looking in the woods WAS leaving a lot more to chance.
Dean and Cesar, meanwhile, go into an abandoned mine and once again split up! GUYS! STOP SPLITTING UP! Geeeeeeeeeezus.
Dean finds a dead pregnant chick who is pregnant with a monster baby - GROSS! Preggo-horror gives me the willies so bad, you guys. It's the WORST. Babies are basically already parasites that leech off you and drive you to an early grave, it's 100 times worse if it's against your will...or faster with the death part...or both.
Also, Dean, you need better reflexes. Dean and Cesar, separately, both end up in scuffles with monsters - both manage to kill their guys - Cesar by picking back up his knife, and Dean by grabbing a nearby shovel and putting some elbow grease into it.
They've found the nest and the eggs, so Dean suggests they light it up with gasoline.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting there waiting for the twist...
Sam and Jesse pull up and Jesse goes into the mine and finds Matty's corpse and has a good cry over it. I thought this scene was a little abrupt in the way they just suddenly cut to Jesse over the body. I think it'd have been better if Jesse and Sam came into the mine right after Cesar caught up with Dean, and maybe Cesar and Dean had turned to leave and found the bodies.... and that's when Sam and Jesse walked in, and then Jesse could see Matty's body before Cesar or Dean even got a chance to explain anything...and then you could actually see him realize he was looking at Matty's body and kneel down and start in on his cry...and it'd have been much more powerful that way then just cutting to it. So, there's one critique for this episode.
Cesar tells Jesse that they'll have a proper burial...and then Jesse says "what about the rest" and Sam and Dean say they'll take care of it (and by that they mean burn it all down.)
Sam and Dean stick around and watch Jesse give Matty a Hunter's funeral. Sam reminices about being a kid and when John and Dean left for hunts and weren't home in a few days, Sam would start thinking a "vamp or a rugaru" had got them (Um, Sam, according to canon, when you were kid, the Winchesters thought vampires were extinct and you didn't know what a Rugaru was yet - or, maybe you did, but then forgot, which seems unlikely... I really have to finish my Knowledge-Timeline project and put it up on the Wiki, for the SPN Writers ALONE.) Anyway, Sam's point was that he never knew what to do - he was always just lost. Dean points out that he and John always came back - but I don't think that was the point Sam was trying to make.
Dean, then, mentions what a good team Cesar and Jesse are, and he starts wondering if maybe they'd be able to lend a hand with Amara and Castiel, and Sam agrees and Dean says he's going to ask.
Meanwhile, Jesse thanks Cesar for helping him and it's cute.
When they get back from lighting the mine on fire. Jesse and Cesar are all jazzed because now that Jesse has avenged his brother's death, they're retiring! They have a place in New Mexico that they're going to turn into a horse farm, and if the horse farm doesn't work out, Jesse will get a job as an EMT and Cesar will be his househusband. And they're all excited about it being "time to start living." Jesse then adds to Dean, "Unless you need saving?" probably because part of him doesn't know what to do with his anger now that his revenge quest is over, besides move on to the next stage of grief.
Dean just smiles though and says that he and Sam are fine and don't need help at all. They say goodbye to Jesse and Cesar.
Sam points out that Dean didn't ask, and Dean says that he couldn't mess with hunters who had reached the finish line - that you have to leave that alone. Awww...
But also, is this the first evidence we have of hunters actually reaching the finish line HAPPILY?!?! I think it is!
Then Sam and Dean drive off...
And my notes say "Whoa - straight forward episode?!" - because it's true - I kept waiting for a twist that never came. Ironically, the only other episode that has not had a twist was Wendigo, which was filmed in, I'm pretty sure, those SAME MINES, which were also filling in for the SAME STATE. And also featured a weird mutated human-esque creature that dragged people into its lair/burrow. In the S10 DVD/BluRay special features, Kripke criticized that episode for not having a twist. I still enjoy Wendigo though, and I still enjoy this one... but after 11 years of having an twist 3/4s of the way into every episode, I must admit that I felt like I had misplaced anxiety when the episode was over...a "wait...that's it?" feeling. Don't get me wrong though, I'm SUPER GLAD that the gay couple lived!!
I think maybe the old Sheriff's story was supposed to be the twist - but I think that would have only been a twist if he was STILL the Sheriff and had withheld the information on the burrow for some reason... or tried to go in alone and they discovered where it was by following him? I don't know... it's not really a twist when he's just part of your standard investigation - "maybe this guy knows something? Oh, he does! Just like we thought he might!"
Anyway, yeah, so if that constitutes a critique, that's my second one - though it's more just an observation. Maybe the twist was that there IS NO TWIST! Dun dun dun! :P
I also have to praise this episode for it's more diverse casting! Besides the VERY BEAUTIFUL lady sheriff... there was also Corrie, who appared to perhaps have a bit of Asian heritage.. and cutie-pants victim #2, who was also not white... and Cesar. Anyway... yeah, nice to see! We still had Sam, Dean, Ada, and Old Sheriff. And I will say that lady Sheriff, though she had a name tag (A. Tyson) was never actually addressed by name in the show... but anyway, I like diversity.
Promo for next week looks like we're getting into the mytharc heavily again. It's a Robbie Thompson episode too - so I am as excited as I am nervous.
(And yes, this took me two hours to type up, but in fairness, I also cooked and ate dinner while I did it.)
As per usual, let me know what you thought in comments and please forgive my spelling mistakes - my spellcheck doesn't work.
That also means that I haven't been drinking - because I totally forget to indulge in my friends' wine supply when they are not there for company. I am primarily a social drinker, it seems. But don't think that will make my memory any better!! I've still only seen the episode once!
Onto the episode...
We begin in 1989 in Gunnison, CO, where two little gay boys are planning their escape to California. Awww... they are named Jesse and Matty, and I didn't realize they were brothers, though I did wonder how they became friends when there was such a large age gap. They've both got potential sweethearts (or a potential sweetheart and an actual sweetheart - (ETA: Ah, someone clarified on tumblr that the older brother was teasing his younger brother about always talking about his sweetheart - and that the older brother was probably not gay, but super accepting and just teasing. But Matty is super concerned that Jesse is going to get gaybashed if he goes around kissing boys.) It's all very heartbreaking. Then it's even more heartbreaking, because Matty get killed by weird thing in the woods.
Now back to the present with Sam and Dean. Dean hasn't been sleeping, because he's been reading lore all night... and also got confused about whether sleeping or sitting was the new smoking (...note to self, use standing desk more.) It's sweet that Dean's super concerned about Cas, but I gotta wonder why Sam doesn't appear to be - I mean, I know Sam's the optimist of the two (90% of the time, anyway), but still.
In anycase, Dean is super worried about Amara killing Cas. Sam is there to distract him with a case - which is probably for the best, I suppose. Better for Dean to feel like he's not completely useless in the world.
In Colorado, they meet a SUPER ATTRACTIVE SHERIFF (that is what my notes say - and they are correct). I would like to marry her, based solely on looks, of course, but I'm sure she is also a nice person.
My future wife tells Sam and Dean that there have been 6 people missing in 48 hours, and their only witness was high and unreliable. Dean makes a joke about the teenagers taking a "Tripping Trip", oh Dean. The Sheriff then admits that the same thing happened 27 years previously, when "a half a dozen" people also went missing (look at you, and you're fancy way of saying ALSO 6 PEOPLE.)
The sheriff just tells herself that it's people fleeing the boring-ass small town... every 27 years like clockwork... because she obviously does not want to think outside the box.
Dean interviews the witness - Corrie - who I thought was named Claudia - but, apparently not? Anyway, Corrie tells Dean about how the guy who attacked them was a weird green mutant without any genitalia.
Dean then goes and fills Sam in, teasing him about how Sam apparently smoked weed once when he was 18 and in college - calling him a sinner and a rebel. It's cute. Mainly, because if that's the only time Sam smoked weed, then that's amazing. But then, I grew up in Canada, maybe in the US it's different, but here, if basically just like underage drinking - everyone does it and no one cares as long as you don't drive.
They find a witness from 27 years ago is still alive - and I thought, he maybe it's Jesse! But nope, it's a woman named Ada, whose husband went missing, apparently after sleeping with two women in public. She's also being suspicious and burning white sage - and is super impressed when Sam names it by smell. Apparently, her grandmother told her that the Spring Equinox, once a generation, makes people super horny and they have orgys in the woods - and she called it The Chitters after the sound the "orgy" made. Sure.... Anyway, Ada makes Sam uncomfortable with her attention, as Sam often is made uncomfortable by sexual attention. Dean, as usual, finds it amusing.
They leave and decide to research. I have to say, I love the way Nancy Won (this is her second episode, I believe?) weaves in unnecessary, but realistic, dialogue every now and then... like here, with Sam saying they should "pick up a six pack" and Dean saying, "just six?" and Sam is like "you know what I meant!"
Oh! It's also here that we find out that the Spring Equinox was YESTERDAY - which means that yesterday was March 20th. Which, for my timelining purposes, actually means that I can timeline FIVE episodes - because it means that ever episode between Love Hurts and this one has to take place between February 19th and March 19th. And since I keep track of the number of days in each episode, and the number of days BETWEEN episodes (when mentioned) that means I can, in fact give approx. dates to five whole episodes. Do you know what that means?! Sam was shot in the stomach 10 DAYS AGO. Geez, Sam, maybe... maybe take it easy? But then, maybe he is... because he does let Dean go into the more dangerous situations in this episode... still though, maybe take it easy IN A BED (.....with me.)
Meanwhile, in another part of town, a teenager/20-something couple is taking a short-cut through the skate park up under the bridge off Pender... and the guy is a CUTIE! ...and they see people having sex... and then the cutie gets killed. :(
So, Sam and Dean interview that witness. The sheriff is not impressed by shenanigans, and walks out of my life... awww.
Then Dean gets a call from Cory about seeing her friend again, so he goes to investigate - and gets attacked! But no worries, another Hunter rescues him! And there are two of them, and one of them is Jesse!! Yay! Jesse!
Jesse and Cesar are Mexican Hunters...or maybe better put - Hunters from Mexico (they do not hunt Mexicans, that would be horrible.) They sometimes come as far noth as Texas, but mostly just stay in Mexico. Fun!
(If I'm not spelling Cesar right, please forgive me, Canada is a long way from Mexico and I am unfamiliar with their names/the spanish language)
Also, Cesar had heard of the Winchesters, but thought they were dead! - I love hearing what other hunters know about the Winchesters.
Cesar and Jesse know all about the monster of course. They're Cicada based and probably came over from Malaysia somehow. They lay eggs underground, which hatch every 27 years, come top-side, possess/kill people for a few days to copulate, and then they go back underground again.
Jesse tells Sam and Dean about his dead brother... and it's sad.
Then Dean teases Cesar and Jesse that they fight like brothers, and they're almost as bad as Sam and him. Then Cesar is like, "uh, more like an old married couple" and Dean laughs and agrees, and then gets it and is like, OHhhhhhh... and I'm happy because Jesse found love...awww...
Dean asks Cesar what it's like to settle down with hunter, and he's like "it's dity and smelly and you're constantly worried about each other getting killed" and uh...yeah, that about sounds like Sam and Dean too, so I think Dean already knew what it was like to settle down with a hunter.
This is the second time this season that Sam and Dean have mentioned/considered the idea of settling down with another hunter. I wonder why that is...I wonder if it's leading somewhere.... it'd be cool if it were.
Anyway, Jesse wants them to back off the hunt, because it's HIS. And Dean's like "that's cool, no probs." And then Cesar is like "We could use the help!" and Jesse is all like "I hate this town! They're abunch of intolerant assholes." And fair enough... but Cesar thinks that Sam and Dean following leads in town is a good idea, because Cesar and Jesse haven't made much progress only searching the woods.
They decide they'll split up. Dean and Cesar will continue looking in the woods, and Sam and Jesse will go to visit the Sheriff from 27 years ago and see if he knew anything, because his notes were crazy suspicious. I'm not sure why they split up that way, but oh well.
Dean and Cesar have a chat in the car. Cesar talks about how it's hard to watch someone go through what Jesse is going through - his revenge path - Dean agrees. Cesar talks about how when someone loses someone when they're young, they never heal from it. Dean also agrees - because, damn, does he ever have person experience on the matter. Cesar asks Dean how many hunters he knows that actualy got revenge. Dean admits that there's been a few... himself, for one, though he doesn't say that. But then Cesar talks about how even when they get revenge, that part of them that is hurt from the loss still isn't fixed. But Dean says that regardless of that, you have to support the person - you have to help them get their revenge. Cesar agrees.
Meanwhile, in my notes, I have written "Nothing better happen to this gay couple!"
Sam and Jesse chat in Jesse's truck on their way to visit the Sheriff. Apparently, when Jesse tried to tell the truth about what happened, everyone thought that some pervert had dragged Matty away - and they blamed Jesse somehow for not being able to rescue his older brother?! Or not being able to give a good description of the guy and making up stories... and they weren't accepting of him anyway, and it all made everything worse. Poor Jesse. He needs all the cuddles. ALL OF THEM.
Cesar and Dean split up in the woods - NEVER SPLIT UP... and Cesar gets attacked, but he's OKAY! Dean chases off the monster - Cesar's leg is hurt... and in my notes I have written "BUT IS HE OK!?!"
Meanwhile, Sam and Jesse confront the old Sheriff, who is shifty AF.
Dean finds the burrow where the eggs are, and he and Cesar head over there, with Cesar limping, but insisting he's fine.
Jesse yells at the Sheriff, Sam refuses to let him brush them off... then the Sheriff finally admits that he tracked down one of the monsters and found his daughter in the burrow - he had thought she had went back to school. He ended up having to kill his own daughter when she attacked him, and it scarred him for life and made him move to the middle of nowhere and never speak to anyone again. Jesse is now SUPER PISSED, because the Sheriff told him he was ridiculous when he KNEW and also the Sheriff not telling anyone led to so many other people getting killed. Sam very politely tries to calm Jesse down, while simultaneously getting the location of the burrow from the Sheriff.
So, both parties found the burrow, using both techniques - so no one hunting technique was technically wrong - though the technique of just looking in the woods WAS leaving a lot more to chance.
Dean and Cesar, meanwhile, go into an abandoned mine and once again split up! GUYS! STOP SPLITTING UP! Geeeeeeeeeezus.
Dean finds a dead pregnant chick who is pregnant with a monster baby - GROSS! Preggo-horror gives me the willies so bad, you guys. It's the WORST. Babies are basically already parasites that leech off you and drive you to an early grave, it's 100 times worse if it's against your will...or faster with the death part...or both.
Also, Dean, you need better reflexes. Dean and Cesar, separately, both end up in scuffles with monsters - both manage to kill their guys - Cesar by picking back up his knife, and Dean by grabbing a nearby shovel and putting some elbow grease into it.
They've found the nest and the eggs, so Dean suggests they light it up with gasoline.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting there waiting for the twist...
Sam and Jesse pull up and Jesse goes into the mine and finds Matty's corpse and has a good cry over it. I thought this scene was a little abrupt in the way they just suddenly cut to Jesse over the body. I think it'd have been better if Jesse and Sam came into the mine right after Cesar caught up with Dean, and maybe Cesar and Dean had turned to leave and found the bodies.... and that's when Sam and Jesse walked in, and then Jesse could see Matty's body before Cesar or Dean even got a chance to explain anything...and then you could actually see him realize he was looking at Matty's body and kneel down and start in on his cry...and it'd have been much more powerful that way then just cutting to it. So, there's one critique for this episode.
Cesar tells Jesse that they'll have a proper burial...and then Jesse says "what about the rest" and Sam and Dean say they'll take care of it (and by that they mean burn it all down.)
Sam and Dean stick around and watch Jesse give Matty a Hunter's funeral. Sam reminices about being a kid and when John and Dean left for hunts and weren't home in a few days, Sam would start thinking a "vamp or a rugaru" had got them (Um, Sam, according to canon, when you were kid, the Winchesters thought vampires were extinct and you didn't know what a Rugaru was yet - or, maybe you did, but then forgot, which seems unlikely... I really have to finish my Knowledge-Timeline project and put it up on the Wiki, for the SPN Writers ALONE.) Anyway, Sam's point was that he never knew what to do - he was always just lost. Dean points out that he and John always came back - but I don't think that was the point Sam was trying to make.
Dean, then, mentions what a good team Cesar and Jesse are, and he starts wondering if maybe they'd be able to lend a hand with Amara and Castiel, and Sam agrees and Dean says he's going to ask.
Meanwhile, Jesse thanks Cesar for helping him and it's cute.
When they get back from lighting the mine on fire. Jesse and Cesar are all jazzed because now that Jesse has avenged his brother's death, they're retiring! They have a place in New Mexico that they're going to turn into a horse farm, and if the horse farm doesn't work out, Jesse will get a job as an EMT and Cesar will be his househusband. And they're all excited about it being "time to start living." Jesse then adds to Dean, "Unless you need saving?" probably because part of him doesn't know what to do with his anger now that his revenge quest is over, besides move on to the next stage of grief.
Dean just smiles though and says that he and Sam are fine and don't need help at all. They say goodbye to Jesse and Cesar.
Sam points out that Dean didn't ask, and Dean says that he couldn't mess with hunters who had reached the finish line - that you have to leave that alone. Awww...
But also, is this the first evidence we have of hunters actually reaching the finish line HAPPILY?!?! I think it is!
Then Sam and Dean drive off...
And my notes say "Whoa - straight forward episode?!" - because it's true - I kept waiting for a twist that never came. Ironically, the only other episode that has not had a twist was Wendigo, which was filmed in, I'm pretty sure, those SAME MINES, which were also filling in for the SAME STATE. And also featured a weird mutated human-esque creature that dragged people into its lair/burrow. In the S10 DVD/BluRay special features, Kripke criticized that episode for not having a twist. I still enjoy Wendigo though, and I still enjoy this one... but after 11 years of having an twist 3/4s of the way into every episode, I must admit that I felt like I had misplaced anxiety when the episode was over...a "wait...that's it?" feeling. Don't get me wrong though, I'm SUPER GLAD that the gay couple lived!!
I think maybe the old Sheriff's story was supposed to be the twist - but I think that would have only been a twist if he was STILL the Sheriff and had withheld the information on the burrow for some reason... or tried to go in alone and they discovered where it was by following him? I don't know... it's not really a twist when he's just part of your standard investigation - "maybe this guy knows something? Oh, he does! Just like we thought he might!"
Anyway, yeah, so if that constitutes a critique, that's my second one - though it's more just an observation. Maybe the twist was that there IS NO TWIST! Dun dun dun! :P
I also have to praise this episode for it's more diverse casting! Besides the VERY BEAUTIFUL lady sheriff... there was also Corrie, who appared to perhaps have a bit of Asian heritage.. and cutie-pants victim #2, who was also not white... and Cesar. Anyway... yeah, nice to see! We still had Sam, Dean, Ada, and Old Sheriff. And I will say that lady Sheriff, though she had a name tag (A. Tyson) was never actually addressed by name in the show... but anyway, I like diversity.
Promo for next week looks like we're getting into the mytharc heavily again. It's a Robbie Thompson episode too - so I am as excited as I am nervous.
(And yes, this took me two hours to type up, but in fairness, I also cooked and ate dinner while I did it.)
As per usual, let me know what you thought in comments and please forgive my spelling mistakes - my spellcheck doesn't work.